NOW AN AUTHOR – Legendary St. Anthony basketball coach Bob Hurley has written a book entitled “Chasing Perfect” about his undefeated Friar teams and will have a book signing Wednesday night, June 12, at the high school.

Bob Hurley has been a lot of things over his Hall of Fame basketball career. He’s obviously been a legendary coach, but he’s also been an administrator, a motivational speaker, a clinician and analyst.

Now, he can add the title of author to his resume.

With the help of respected author Dan Paisner, Hurley has penned a memoir of his 40-plus years as the coach at St. Anthony, entitled “Chasing Perfect: The Will to Win in Basketball and Life.”

“I still consider Dan to be the author,” Hurley said. “We would just sit and talk basketball for an hour and a half twice a week for about a year. He did everything. He taped our conversations and took notes. It was basically the two of us just sitting around and talking basketball.”

The focus of the book is the seven different undefeated teams that Hurley coached over the years, dating back to the first one in 1974 and ending with the last two undefeated teams in 2011 and 2012.

Paisner also interviewed players from each of those teams to help tell the story.

Hurley said that he was first approached by the famed William Morris Agency after Steve Kroft of CBS’ “60 Minutes” did a feature two years ago.

“Jim Ornstein from William Morris reached out to us and said that there might be something we could do in terms of a book,” Hurley said. “We met in New York and at that time, they said that there’s a book here somewhere. I was introduced to Dan and we just started talking.”

When the interviews started, Hurley’s wife, Chris, and daughter Melissa, came up with the idea to focus on the undefeated seasons.

“They also came up with the name of ‘Chasing Perfect,’” Hurley said.

Hurley is pleased with the outcome.

“I think it’s a good book,” said Hurley, who has done a ton of publicity for the book, like the Boomer and Carton Show on WFAN and the Artie Lange Show on Fox Sports Radio. “It’s a feel of what I’ve done coaching over the 40 years. I’m different. The world is different. But it was a lot of fun to do. It started out just as conversations, talking about basketball. I shared my stories with Dan and he put it into first person.”

There will be a book signing with Hurley and Paisner at the St. Anthony High School auditorium on Wednesday night, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free, but the book will be on sale for $30 and all proceeds of the book signing will go to St. Anthony. If anyone can’t make the book signing and still wants to purchase an autographed copy of the book, call the school at (201) 653-5739…

Trouble just seems to follow former Hudson Reporter Male Athlete of the Year Evan Rodriguez.

The former North Bergen High School standout and current member of the Chicago Bears, who ran afoul of the law a few times while he was still in high school, has been arrested twice in the last six months.

In March, Rodriguez was arrested in Miami and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly intoxication. Those charges were eventually dropped.

However, last week, Rodriguez was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, speeding and an improper lane change in Illinois.

Rodriguez, a second-year tight end with the Bears, released a statement through the Bears’ front office.

“I am deeply sorry for the incident that occurred the other night,” the statement read. “I want to apologize to the entire Bears organization, my teammates, coaches and Bears fans everywhere. I realize that I made a very poor decision. I know that more is expected of me and that I let a lot of people down that are counting on me. I will make positive changes in my life so that this doesn’t happen again.”

Rodriguez was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Bears and caught four passes for 21 yards last season, but he’s earned respect for his blocking ability. However, if Rodriguez doesn’t keep his nose clean, chances are that the Bears will cut him loose. Bears general manager Phil Emery, who pushed to select Rodriguez, said that he was “extremely disappointed” by Rodriguez’s actions.

“Evan is a very likeable guy,” Emery said last week in the Chicago Sun-Times. “We have talked. I’ll say I’m extremely disappointed and leave it at that. There are a lot of things we have to work through.”

The NFL monitors all arrests, so it could be that Rodriguez is facing a league-imposed suspension.

Either way, it’s not good news for the 24-year-old Rodriguez, who just can’t seem to avoid trouble…

North Bergen resident Carlos Tamara, who shocked the world by winning the IBF light flyweight world championship in 2010, becoming the first North Bergen resident to win a world title since the immortal James J. Braddock in 1935, has announced his retirement from boxing after his latest loss last Saturday.

Tamara suffered a 12-round decision setback to Hernan Marquez in Mexico. It was the 30-year-old Tamara’s fourth loss since winning the title from Brian Viloria in the Philippines in January of 2010. After winning the title, Tamara was honored by the North Bergen Board of Commissioners.

Tamara’s trainer and manager Butch Sanchez of Hoboken announced Tamara’s retirement, saying that his boxer had a great run and will always be a champion…--Jim Hague